Brian WestoverApricorn Aegis Padlock Pro SSD (256GB)The Apricorn Aegis Padlock Pro SSD (256GB) provides encryption and data security in a drive that is easy to use, if you can get past the sticker shock.

The Apricorn Aegis Padlock Pro SSD (256GB) provides encryption and data security in a drive that is easy to use, if you can get past the sticker shock.

The combination of storage capacity and portability that make notebook-class hard drives so convenient also make it easy to lose your data should your drive be misplaced or stolen. That's where encrypted drives come in; they lock down your sensitive information in a digital vault to protect it against hackers and data thieves. The Apricorn Aegis Padlock Pro SSD ($759 direct for 256GB) provides that protection, putting high-end encryption into a straightforward and easy-to-use package.

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Design
The Aegis Padlock Pro SSD measures 4.7 by 3.3 inches, and 0.75-inch thick, and just over a third of a pound (6.2 ounces). It has a glossy black plastic enclosure, with the white Apricorn logo in the top left corner. There's also a white stripe arcing across the face of the drive for some added flair. The piano-black enclosure attracted fingerprints the moment I pulled it from its protective neoprene sleeve. Honestly, there's nothing spectacular about this drive's design. Then again, you don't purchase a keypad-locked 256-bit encrypted drive to make a fashion statement, you buy it to protect your data.

There is a 12-key number pad integrated into the front face, which is used to unlock the encryption and allow the drive to be accessed by the computer. The keypad buttons are oval, with a rubbery texture. They are wear-resistant, to prevent regularly used keys from looking worn and thus providing clues to which numbers are used to unlock it.

The 256GB model we reviewed costs $759. No, that's not a typothis 256GB dive will cost you $2.96 per Gigabyte. While there's certainly a level of sticker shock involved, this is about right for an external SSD. The Iomega SSD Flash Drive with USB 3.0, for example, costs $749.99 for 256GB. If you like the simple security of the Padlock Pro SSD but don't need the speed afforded by flash memory, you might want to look at the spinning drive variants offered by Apricorn, which costs roughly 30-cents per gigabyte.

Rotational drives are susceptible to damage and malfunction from a host environmental factors, from shock and vibration to humidity or temperature. Because they have no moving parts, solid-state drives are less prone to shock, vibration, and extremes in temperature or humidity. The Aegis PadlockPro SSD will work in temperatures ranging from 40- to 158-degrees Fahrenheit, and is virtually shock resistant. The drive comes bundled with three separate cables: An eSATA connection for high speed data transfer, a USB 2.0 cable, and a USB power cable to use when using a non-powered connection.

Features
The Aegis Padlock Pro offers 256-bit AES encryption, which is the highest level of commercially available encryption, rated for securing even data that's been classified "Top Secret." It uses hardware encryption, encrypting all data on the drive in real-time, and preventing the drive from even appearing without an authentic PIN. Plus, the encryption is ready to use out of the box, and there's no special software to install.

The protection doesn't stop with encryption, however. To protect against brute force attacks aimed at finding a working PIN, the drive locks down after so many incorrect entries. It will ultimately destroy the encryption key if the attempts continue, protecting your data through the digital equivalent of a self-destruct sequence. It also includes Apricorn's Variable Timing Circuitry, which thwarts so-called "timing attacks".

The Padlock Pro uses a hardware numeric keypad to authenticate users and allow access to the drive contents. For businesses and organizations that need to allow access to multiple individuals while maintaining the security of their data, the Aegis Padlock Pro allows the drive to be set-up with as many as 10 user IDs.

Though billed as being compatible with all operating systems (namely Windows, Mac, and Linux), the drive arrives from the factory formatted in NTFS, a Windows-specific format. As a result, you will need to reformat the drive to HFS+ for use with a Mac, or FAT32 for broad compatibility. More importantly, this reformatting should happen before any data is put onto the drive, as it will be lost in a reformat.

Performance
The Aegis Padlock Pro is a dual-interface drive, offering both USB 2.0 and eSATA connections. The slower of these two, USB 2.0, is more widely available on both Windows and Mac machines. The slow connection speed also becomes a significant bottle neck, limiting the improved speeds offered by SSD technology. The eSATA connection, on the other hand, offers significantly better transfer speeds, and lets the SSD show off the speed that makes it so special. Because the two connections offer different data transfer rates, we tested the two separately.

Unlike USB 2.0, the eSATA interface is fast enough to take advantage of the real potential of the SSD. The difference was pronounced; the PCMark05 score jumped to 17,461. The Drag and Drop test folder copied in 8 secondsonly a fraction of the time required when using the USB connection. The WiebeTech ToughTech Secure Mini-Q, which also offers an eSATA interface but a slower rotational drive, scored 5,300 in PCMark05 via eSATA, and completed the Drag and Drop test in 13 seconds.

For secure digital data storage, the Apricorn Aegis Padlock Pro SSD is hard to beat. When stacked up against the former Editors' Choice Lenovo ThinkPad USB Portable Hard Drive, it offers stronger encryption, faster performance, and greater reliability. These improvements will cost you a hefty amount, but for the security minded, this is the drive to have.

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About the Author

Brian Westover is an Analyst for the Hardware Team, reviewing laptops, desktops, and storage devices.
As a child, Brian was frequently asked "What do you want to be when you grow up?" His answer alternated between Superman and Batman. This was cute when he was five, but worrisome at seventeen. Naturally, he is now a journalist, writing about tec... See Full Bio

Apricorn Aegis Padlock Pro SSD (256GB)

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